A meditation for this precious New Year

Happy New Year! You and I, dear reader, are among the top 0.0000001% of the world’s population.

How can I make such an extraordinary pronouncement?

The population to which I refer is that of all sentient beings – not just humans. To be born as one of only 7 billion humans on a planet of numberless billions of other life forms, with far less capacity for personal growth or happiness, is extraordinary.

Among the tiny proportion of people, if you are reading this on your own computer, you are among only 4 out of every 100 humans. Materially you may think you’re fairly normal, but taking a broader view of the world’s population, you are probably among the more affluent fraction of the top few percent.

That’s just the start. What about your education, formal or informal? Your IQ and emotional intelligence (EQ) – the ability to delay gratification? Your ability to access information about wisdom traditions which, until even 10 years ago, were unavailable without the most strenuous effort?

More importantly, the fact that you have an interest in understanding the nature of consciousness and optimising it, transports you to a preposterously tiny fraction of a fraction of one percent. Seeking to illustrate this very point, Buddha once used the analogy of a blind, crippled turtle that rises to the surface of the ocean every hundred years and just happens to stick its head through a wooden yoke that’s floating on it.

That’s you. And me.

What can we take from this analysis at the start of 2015? Plenty. But an obvious implication is to make the most of this precious life. We are among a very, very rare, privileged few. This opportunity is fleeting and may be over before we imagine. How can we use it to best effect, both for ourselves and for others?

Let me offer the following meditation for the New Year:

Adopt a meditation posture and settle the mind with breath-based meditation for a few minutes.

Having calmed the mind to some extent, ask yourself this: ‘What is my highest purpose in this life?’

Observe what arises in your mind. If you become distracted, return your focus to the question.

After 5 or 10 minutes, ask yourself: ‘What resources do I need from the outside world to make this happen?’ Visualise breathing in these resources, and intend that you have access to them.

After 5 or 10 minutes, ask yourself: ‘What resources do I need from myself to make this happen?’ Visualise breathing in these resources, and intend that you have access to them.

After 5 or 10 minutes end your meditation thinking:

May I achieve my highest purpose

Quickly, easily and completely,

Not only for my own sake,

But for the sake of all living beings without exception.

May all beings have happiness and the true causes of happiness,

May all beings be free from suffering and the true causes of suffering,

May all beings enjoy vibrant good health and abundance, and

May all beings find their highest purpose and be an inspiration to others.

Comments (8)

Sue Baensch

A fantastic blog David, it really makes you think. Just wondering if you’d thought of recording the meditation and adding it to the meditation downloads so it can be used again and again? I think it is relevant and useful for many different reasons not just the start of a new year. Happy New Year to you (and Mambo)!

David Michie Author

How beautifully and naturally, how effectively, you bring us to understand the utter preciousness of our existence with contemporary examples. I love and endorse this exercise you give as well.

I’ve shared this on my Facebook timeline and in the group we’ve started there, “Promotion with Integrity.”

I’ve been posting in our blog to inspire consciousness of the preciousness of this particular moment, the New Year’s Eve/Day moment. I am seeing this combined with your work to make this moment, as every moment, a crossroads with a choice. Thank you so much! I have loved each of your posts, I think this is the first I’ve been inspired to respond this directly to you. Blessed New Year to you, David.

Satya

I found this on friend Beth ‘s Facebook page. So simple, and driving the point as well. Feels Light as I read and the sense of responsibility one finds and feels while feeling Free. Thanks so much David. Wishing a very Happy New Year <3

David Michie Author

Julie

So simple, so much energy,so inspiring. If only every human could give 5-10 minutes of their day to meditate on these very important pieces, imagine what all that energy could bring. With more and more people thinking this way the energy will resonate.